I was planning to publish this before the end of 2016 but I had a hard time resetting my password. :(
It is almost the end of the year and another year is added to my life. Smartphones and tablets has greatly advanced the reach of internet to the masses. Without them the innovation for the internet would have not leaped to the degree we are experiencing now. PCs and Laptops helped but not much. Other devices (such as internet connected lights, cameras, etc.) are helping technology companies push innovation to sci-fi boundaries.
Take for example a simple phone/video call (there are dozens of app for that!). It used to be a luxury to call somebody across the globe but now (thanks to improved broadband connections, data compression, etc.) you can talk to your friends halfway around the world in-person! Not only can you talk to one person, you can connect to multiple persons at the same time (some in the same conversation-group video call and others on a one-on-one basis). Pretty amazing.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Netflix allowed downloading of some of their video content to tablets and smartphones. I remember a decade ago, I was converting VHS tapes to computer readable media which I can burn to a CD or DVD. These has been the ‘on-board’ entertainment of my kids on long summer trips. But now, your subscription to Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. has made it possible to binge watch on-the-road from your tablet or smartphone (sans internet connection).
These are interesting times we’re living in. Spotify and other ‘internet-radio’ services has been in existence for quite a while. The music selections has been very good. This week, I dialed in to listen to the music-of-my-youth (translation: music of older people – original pilipino music). What a nostalgia! It was like high school and college days all over again. Growing up, we were not big into listening to radio. Why? 1) we didn’t have a radio until my aunt brought her transistor radio to our house when I was in 3rd Grade, 2) we were fortunate to have a B/W TV then. It was in 3rd year high school (about 9th Grade in North American educational standards) that I had my own AM/FM Radio-Cassette recorder box (not quite a boom-box). It is funny that I still know the lyrics of songs over 35 years old and even know who sang it!
Just this past summer, some of my high school classmates got together in Las Vegas for a reunion of some sorts. We had a great time exchanging stories and we even know each classmates name (all of 51 of them). Growing up in a small coastal town, we never imagined that someday half-dozen of us are riding together to Grand Canyon and will be amazed at staring at a big hole on the ground.
Over the past few years, I’ve accumulated thousands of photos from places we have been compared to the few hundreds of the 1st 45 years of my life. If this is what getting older is, I like it, I like it a lot.
A group of Filipinos have been actively playing basketball every week since last month. I’ve been to a couple of scrimmages. I felt I can still play with them. Most of them don’t know that I’m the oldest in their group. I’m playing with players half my age.
The new year is upon us. It brings new hope, new challenges, and new beginnings. For my wife and I, a new experience of being by ourselves again just like when we first met and before the kids were born. A new experience of being grandparents but I think being a grandparent is overrated. Here’s to a New Year!